ABC slammed the broadcast competition Thursday, posting a 5.0 rating in adults 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, thanks to a strong showing from the NBA Finals. ABC’s share was 18. It was a Game 1 record for ABC, with a lead in from Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night at 2.9 and NBA Countdown at 3.1.
The game started before primetime in the Pacific and ended after prime in the East.
CBS was runner up at 1.0/3 despite airing repeats throughout prime.
Fox scored a 0.8/3, with Bones up 13% 0.9 and American Grit up 40% at 0.7.
NBC did a 0.5/2, with Strong at 0.6, down a tenth, and two hours of Game of Silence at 0.4, down 43% from its last airing.
On The CW, a repeat of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow led into Beauty and the Beast at 0.2; the latter closed to a 0.2 last fall, and had opened at 0.3 a year ago.
Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.
